Members of one D.C.-area household wanted to sell their home. Three prospective buyers walked out, the reason being a $32,000 fee to cancel the original homeowner’s solar panel lease.
“My seller couldn’t believe what I was telling him,” Yolanda Muckle, the real estate agent helping the Mitchellville, Md., household sell the home told The Washington Post. “I honestly don’t think my clients read the lease agreement. They just believed what the salesperson told them, that it would increase the value of their home.”
But the blame doesn’t all go to the sellers. Muckle calculated the costs, and found that the solar company’s request was not logical. Her clients save $50 a month on their electric bills thanks to the solar panels, which means they would save $600 a year.
“Over 20 years, that is a $12,000 savings. Yet the company wants $32,000 to buy out the lease,” Muckle said.
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